1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to clothes dryers. More particularly, the present invention relates to the construction of a selectively removable drying rack for use with a clothes dryer.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Conventional clothes dryers include a cabinet with a rotatable drum mounted between stationary front and rear walls or bulkheads. Typically, the drum includes an air inlet opening in the rear wall, with a grate extending over the air inlet opening to prevent tumbling clothing from entering. A heater is provided for supplying heated air through the inlet opening to facilitate drying of the laundry. The heated air travels in a generally axial path through the drum to an air outlet grid located in the front wall. During normal operation of the clothes dryer, clothes are pulled against the outlet grid by the heated air passing through the drum. The temperature within the drum is controlled by at least one thermostat located downstream from the air outlet grid.
There are various structures presently known in the art to provide support for delicate items that, because of their nature, cannot be subjected to the normal tumbling action of a clothes dryer. A typical prior art device is comprised of a rack that is mounted within the dryer, but remains stationary instead of rotating with the drum. This prior art rack is generally a grate-like structure that allows air to freely flow through the clothing. Therefore the items placed on the rack are subjected to the heated airflow, but are not subjected to the tumbling action of the rotating drum.
One disadvantage of a drying rack such as the one mentioned above is that the heated airflow may pass through the drum without actually passing through the clothing. The result is a slower, less-efficient drying operation than could otherwise be accomplished.
An attempt to address this problem can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,959. The drying rack depicted in this patent includes a channel added to the underside of the grate-like structure of the rack in order to create a closed airflow path from the rack to the air outlet grid. This construction effectively forced substantially all of the airflow to pass through or nearby the articles placed on the grate-like structure. However, this construction still suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages. One problem that is apparent is the situation where the clothing article to be dried substantially covers the entire gridwork of the rack, and reduces the airflow volume, thus increasing the temperature of the incoming air. Further, the clothing placed on the drying rack creates an airflow restriction that is upstream from the controlling thermostats and delays the ability of the thermostats to react to rapidly rising temperatures. The result is that the clothing, often composed of fabrics of a delicate nature, are subjected to a higher than desired temperature. To address this drawback, a recommendation is made to consumers to use only unheated air or the lowest temperature setting available. This approach leaves ample room for consumer error.
Another disadvantage of the prior art ducted drying rack is that excessive storage space is required. The drying rack is quite tall due to the channel that interfaces with the air outlet grid, or due to the mounting features that place the drying rack in a stationary position in the drum. Consumers typically have little storage space in their laundry rooms, and since the drying rack is used infrequently, storage can become a nuisance.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a ducted drying rack to be used in a clothes drying appliance that improves over the state of the art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drying rack with a profile that permits easy storage.
A still further object of the present invention is to strike balance between drying delicate articles with the aid of an improved ducted drying rack as quickly and efficiently as possible while maintaining acceptable clothing temperatures at all available temperature settings.
These and/or other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the specification and claims that follow.